ROMANCE OF BRAEMAR

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 26, 23 October 1937, Page 15

ROMANCE OF BRAEMAR

Once a Year Scotsmen Gather Among the Hills to Participate in Games and Sports of Long Tradition

jpOR 364 days in the year, the little Scottish village of Braemar dozes peacefully among the fir-clad Aberdeenshire hills that cradle it. But on the 365th— which thifl year falls on September 9 — it wakens abruptly, teems with- automobiles and people, all on their way to the Princess Royal Park, a natural amphitheatre set like an ejnerald amid the purple heather of the hills writes R. Maillard Stead in the Christian Science Monitor. There, hard by the spot where the brawling Clunie frotha its waters into the Dee, take place each autumn the Royal Braemar Games, chief of those historio highland gatherings which provide social-cum-sporting pageants without counterpart anywhere. From scenes like these old Scotia '• grandeur springs. That makes her loved Sat home, revered abroad. Those are the words of the Scottish poet, Burns. And as applied to Braemar they eonjure up a sight to stir the pulse pf eveu the least responsive Sassenach. The only timo I want to be other than au Englishman (for just an hou^ or so, let it be patriotically added) is when the clansmen march in at Braemar — gay tartan kilts aswing above their brawny, brown, bare knees, sunlight glinting on their claymores, pikes and Lochaber axes, and the skirl of bagpipes echoing through the hills. The einotional power of Scotland's roman-. tic clan traditions seems to reverse the normal processes of time, so that the ring of prosaio motor vehicles round the arena becomes just a ridiculous anacbrouism as the stalwart Highlanders — greybeards and striplings, striding along together in firm rauks — miarch past the Royal Pavilion, a bower adorned with mountain heather, studded brightly with the red berries of the mountain ash. From the flagposts flutter the Royal Standard and the Union Jack." In this Coronation Year, with a Scottish Queen on Britain's throne, the Highlands pulsate with a more personal, zealous ioyalty than' usual, A tumult of welcome awaits Their Majesties' first appearanc'e at Braemar iu the royal carriage drawn by four fine grays. The King and Queen are not just royal visitors. They are local residents, living for a space in the Scottish home of Britain's kings, Balmoral Cagtle. See, the clansroen are tramping by. They gathered in the courtyard of the Iuvercauld Arms in the village. aud they have marcbed to the arena, headed by the pipes. Three fine companies there are— the King's Balmoral Highlanders, from the royal estate? # bearing the Stuart tartan and in their bonnets the floral embleni of a Scottish thistle bloom and spray of oak leavesj the Fyfe

Highlanders, each with the distinctive red MacDuff tartan and a sprig of bolly in his bonnet: and the Farquharson Highlanders, wqaring their vivid green and in their bonnets a sprig of pine. The Balmoral Highlanders bear battleaxes, the Fyfe men long, slender pikes, the Farquharsons broad claymores. And these glittering weapons serve to remind us that almost within % stone 's throw of this very spot the Earl of Marr raised his standard in the cause of "Bounie Prince Charlie" one stormy Soptember dav nigh upon two coa-. turies ago and gathered about him an army of doughty Highland warriors, for an illfated atempt upon the throne of England. To-day the clansmen who assemble at Bra®. mar know no greater disappointment on tli« great day than the absence of the King,Seldom, indeed, has the monarch ruifsed r.he meeting, since Queen Victoria first bestowed her patronage on it sorae 80 years ago. Hence the term "Royal" for this ^articrjaione of the Highland gatherings held in late summer all over the northern parts of • Scotland and, as well in places that have little

real claim at all to the title of" Highlands." The Braemar • Games were not held in 1936, owing to the passing of King George V. in the January of that year. ' Try as you like, it would be hard indeed ot pick upon a setting more fitted by nature to a festival of Gaeldom than the village of Braemar, where Robert Louis Steveuson resided at the time when he wrote his firgt great work, "Treasure Island." The swelling hills far aud near— -Ben Avon, Morrone Craig, Coynach and the rest — contrast peacefully with the gay splash of tartans in the green arena and their haunting echoes give weird effect to the vibrant music of the pipes. That music persists through almost the whole day of the gathering as competitions are eagerly contested by the pipers— in the playing of laments, salutes, pibrochs, marches, strathspeys and reels. Piping and dancing are the two most popular features of Highland games. It is not only the Scots' lassies who tread a nimble measure. Big men as light as feathers on their toes as they twist and twirl through the intricacies of traditional Scottish dances, A speeial deligbt, too, is the dancing of the boys and girls. Only the true Scot with the trained ear can fully appreciate the nuances of bagpipe playing, and the subtletiea of competitive Highland dancing are lost upon all but the deeply initiated.

From 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, the spectators witness the unfoldment of a varied programme of athletic events. And by athletic events I mean the Scottish interpretation of such things, with emphasis laid on mighty feats of strength by men of thews. Outstanding is that quite extraordinary and particularly Scottish diversion, tossing the caber (Gaelic for a tree-trunk and pronounced "kapper"), a feat which demands not only muscular power but a cunaing knack as well. You wili infer this, I am sure, on learning (if yon do not know it already) that a caber is nothing more or less than a tapered trunk of a youhg fir tree, weighing about 280 pounds and 16 feet iu length. The aim of the tosser is not to throw the caber a long distance biit to pitch it onto the end remote from his hands (cupped in front of him), so that it topples straight over. The perfect toss sends the missile over in a position which, on a shooting target, is designated by riflemen as 12 o'clock. Obviously, a toss that is slightly deficient in power allows the caber to fall somewhere between 9 and 12 o 'clock or between 12 and 3, while a really poor effort wili not topple over at all, but wili fall back threateningly toward the tosser. •On soeing a caber for the first time, you might be surprised to learn that a man can lift it, let alone toss it. Well, he can't Severn! hands raise it from the ground for him and poise it upright in his palms. For a space he balances the great bulk, stepping backward or forward as may be necepsary to preserve equilibrium. At last, having got "set," so to speak, he allows the top eiid to tilt slightly forward in order to he may run a few paces. Then a jump, a mighty heave — and over ahe goes Or not, as the case may be. The other athletic events comprise running, hurdljng, high and long jumping, obstacle races, wrestling, "Putting th8 stone" (which really is a heavy boulder) and hurling the hammer and the weight. The Braemar Games date back to 1816, but legend tells of an athletic competition held in the locality in the year 1040, which is a little matter of 897 years. The story, true or otherwise, is that the King Malcolm reigning over Scotland at that time ordered a race to the Bummit of Craig Choinnich, to determine which of his followers were the most suitable to employ as messengers. Strident voices. may nowadays boom out through the glen, carrying the details of the games from loudspeakers, and charabancs by the dozen may snort' their way to a beauty spot which has escaped even the intrusion of change, th.8 romance of Royal Braemar remains unchanged.